Clermont shelter to reduce euthanasia rate, save animals

Jul. 21, 2013

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T-Bone, a five-year-old dachshund, sits inside his cage at the Clermont County Animal Shelter in Batavia Township. / The Enquirer/Amanda Davidson

A success story

Beckey Reiter, who has worked in the animal control field for 26 years, admits she was skeptical about the no-kill movement and its claims that 90 percent of shelter animals can be saved. And yet, “I was willing to objectively look at anything that was put in front of me if I felt it could reduce our (euthanasia) numbers,” says Reiter, director of Boone County Animal Care and Control, which runs the county animal shelter. In February 2012, Reiter decided to go all-in with the 11 elements of the “no-kill equation.” Boone County is the first local open admission shelter to do so. Strategies include: • Working to reconnect stray dogs with their owners rather than bring them to the shelter. The staff is successful about 55 percent of the time, more than three times the national average. • Aggressively promoting the shelter through community outreach and social media. The shelter’s Facebook page has gone from 189 fans to more than 9,000. • Starting a foster care program, where animals stay while awaiting adoption. The program is run mainly by volunteers. • Nearly doubling the number of rescue groups with which the shelter works. • Ramping up pet-retention efforts, which includes assisting people who might surrender pets because they can’t afford to feed them. “We’ll help you get through the month,” Reiter says. “Sometimes that’s all people need.” Other programs, such as low-cost spay-neuter, are being addressed by other local organizations. “What I found in all these programs,” Reiter said, “is that it’s simply good public service.” The payoff: The shelter now saves about 70 percent of its animals, up from 47 percent in 2011. Can it reach 90 percent? Reiter isn’t sure. But she’s happy about the trends of other numbers. Cash donations, which for years were consistently in the $12,000-$16,000 range, jumped to $30,000 last year. Material donations – of litter, food and supplies – are also up. And volunteer hours tripled from 2011 to 2012, to 6,000 hours. “That tells you the community is willing to support us in trying to accomplish our goals in these new programs,” she said.

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BATAVIA TWP. — An experiment that’s about to begin in Clermont County could set the stage for the fates of thousands of animals throughout the region.

The backers of Clermont County’s plan say it could eventually save more than 2,000 dogs and cats every year. Critics call it an impossible dream.

It’s a conflict that has plagued open-admission animal shelters across the country for decades: high euthanasia rates. It’s estimated about 8 million dogs and cats enter U.S. shelters each year; about half are killed.

In Clermont County, more than 2,500 dogs and cats were destroyed last year at the animal shelter run by the Clermont County Humane Society.

“You try to save as many as you can,” said board President Karen Turpin. “More (staff), more money, more locations, more space – all those things would make things a little easier, but it’s just not the reality.”

But the leader of a local animal rescue organization says the Clermont euthanasia numbers can be drastically reduced even without more money and paid staff. What’s really needed, said Anita Barron, founder of the nonprofit Pet Alliance and its offshoot, Clermont Pets Alive, is for humane society leadership to embrace a concept called the “no-kill equation.”

For the first time, the humane society’s contract with the county requires that it partner with a third party to try to reduce the euthanasia rate.

It appears the third party will be Clermont Pets Alive, the only organization that responded to the county’s request for proposals. The county is reviewing that proposal and could finalize a contract this week. The third party would receive no county money.

The Clermont shelter last year received 3,496 animals, 1,551 of them dogs. Under state law, dogs must be housed and fed for three days, with those costs paid by the county. (There is no such requirement for cats.) After three days, the financial responsibility falls on the humane society.

“We do everything we can do to get animals ... adopted out, as quickly as possible, so we have more space for the next dozen coming in,” Turpin says.

But Clermont Pets Alive says it got a cold shoulder when it approached the humane society board in April 2012 with a plan it claims can save 90 percent or more of shelter animals. Pets Alive’s offer to pull puppies and kittens from the shelter while the board considered its proposal also was rejected.

So last September, Pets Alive approached Clermont County Administrator Stephen Rabolt. Seeking middle ground, he crafted a plan that was approved by county commissioners as part of the humane society’s 2013 contract.

One change: Shelter hours have been altered to make it more convenient for working people to retrieve a lost pet or adopt. Instead of closing at 4 p.m. each day, the shelter now stays open until 8 p.m. on Wednesdays.

Also, the shelter will now be required to give the county and its third-party agent 24 hours’ notice of a dog’s scheduled euthanasia. The agent can then claim the dog at no cost and attempt to get it adopted.

If the program is successful for dogs, Rabolt said he hopes the humane society and third-party agent can work out an arrangement for cats.

Turpin is skeptical.

“Every time you call them they’re going to be in the same boat everybody else is: They don’t have space to take the animal in. It’s a space issue, most of the time, for all these rescues,” she said.

There’s also a question about what kind of working relationship the humane society will have with Clermont Pets Alive if it becomes the county’s agent. Turpin said the two organizations differ fundamentally on what is “humane” treatment of animals.

“I won’t give them cats, because I know what they’re going to do with them” – spay, neuter and turn them loose, she said. “That’s not humane. They’re going to get hit by a car or they’ll starve to death.”

A trap-neuter-return program for feral cats is one of 11 elements of the no-kill equation that Clermont Pets Alive wants to implement in Clermont. Other facets include heavy reliance on volunteers, comprehensive adoption and foster care programs, willingness to work with rescue groups, a low-cost spay-neuter program and a strong public relations strategy.

The most important element of all, Barron said, is leadership’s willingness to embrace all 11 elements of the equation.

Nathan Winograd, a Stanford-educated lawyer and former prosecutor, founded the national No Kill Advocacy Center in 2004. Since then, about 150 U.S. communities have implemented no-kill programs, according to the center’s website. Locally, the only open-admission shelter adhering to the program is Boone County Animal Care and Control, although it does not call itself a no-kill shelter.

Barron and her husband, Rick, who are Clermont County residents, say their goal is to establish a no-kill program not only in Clermont, but also in other Tristate counties.

Directors of local open-admission shelters say saving 90 percent or more of animals is a laudable goal, but there are obstacles, such as lack of money and the sheer number of animals.

Last year the Campbell County Animal Shelter took in 2,329 cats and dogs. Some days, as many 30 came through the door. “It’s about impossible to go no-kill,” Director Lisa Bowman said.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Cincinnati has two shelters and would build a third if money was available, said Harold Dates, president and CEO. He has one animal behaviorist on staff but would like to hire at least two more to instruct people on how to house-train pets. And he’d like to hire two more veterinarians so more sick and injured animals could be rehabilitated.

He said the SPCA saves 60 percent of its animals. “I’m the first to say I’d like to do more,” said Dates. “If you look at what we’ve done, using every dollar to the fullest, I think we’ve done reasonably well.”

The no-kill movement’s critics include People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which says the number of animals in need of homes far exceeds the number of available homes. On its website, PETA says the no-kill movement “lets the real culprits off the hook: people who breed (or fail to spay or neuter) their animals and people who buy animals from pet stores or breeders instead of adopting homeless animals from shelters.”

In Clermont, the next five months will be a trial run to see how much of an impact can be made, Rabolt said. An assessment will be made at the end of the year, when contracts are up for renewal.

“We’re all in agreement to try to solve the (euthanasia) problem,” Rabolt said. “How you get there is the issue.” ■

I cover eastern Hamilton County communities, Clermont County and the Cincinnati Zoo, and write about local history. Email me at jjohnston@enquirer.com